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Frozzie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 23, 2011
172
0
10.7.3 and I am sure I am not the only one, I am sure I am not the first, and I am sure I won't be the last to complain about this.

I work hard in working out how to arrange the icons, and at reboot it randomly shuffles itself - all in mixed order.

I don't think there is any way to fix this problem permanently, other than that the problem will creep up once you add more applications and you do more custom arrangements.
 

Frozzie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 23, 2011
172
0
It's too much effort - I am sure people have complained about it. I strongly bet against anything that someone could not have done it already.
 

user418

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2010
671
13
I feel your pain. It also aggravates me to have my icons being constantly rearranged. Seems like that should be a simple fix.
 

Frozzie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 23, 2011
172
0
if nothing else, this works pretty well (i live&die by it):
launchpad-control

I don't like installing 3rd party apps, at any cost (Even if they are paying me to). The fact that it is 3rd party leaves possibility of UI or general bugs at any time. This is Mac we are talking about here - we shouldn't have to install these things like on M****soft computers where you have to install 52 odd things to make it work like OS X.
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,018
5,396
ny somewhere
I don't like installing 3rd party apps, at any cost (Even if they are paying me to). The fact that it is 3rd party leaves possibility of UI or general bugs at any time. This is Mac we are talking about here - we shouldn't have to install these things like on M****soft computers where you have to install 52 odd things to make it work like OS X.

i have no idea what you're talking about. UI bugs? seriously, there's a wealth of freeware & shareware apps macusers have used for a LONG TIME, that enhance our mac usage. i'd rather have a more-manageable launchpad (for example), then not.

EVERY app (that is not from apple) is a 3rd-party app. should we all abandon adobe, microsoft, etc apps??

whatever makes u happy (or...whatever)...
 

Cripps

macrumors regular
Jun 22, 2011
175
0
I don't like installing 3rd party apps... The fact that it is 3rd party leaves possibility of UI or general bugs at any time...

I have heaps of third party apps, plug-ins, extensions etc. etc. and have never had a problem with any of them.

There are a lot of creative people who don't work for Apple.
And Apple often incorporates good third party ideas into their software.
 

Frozzie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 23, 2011
172
0
I have heaps of third party apps, plug-ins, extensions etc. etc. and have never had a problem with any of them.

There are a lot of creative people who don't work for Apple.
And Apple often incorporates good third party ideas into their software.

No problems with apps that work on their own, I have Office 2011, Evernote, Dropbox, Steam, Pixelmator, and a handful of games. I just don't like system UI tweaking tools such as TotalFinder, TotalSpaces. Great ideas but UI graphics doesn't match 100%.

Launchpad is made by Apple, if there is a bug with it Apple should fix it. The thing that I hate most is when Apple should fix it, someone refers me to install something that wasn't made by Apple. Why? I like to keep the system to minimum, part of reason why I bought Mac was I got fed up of having to install so many things on Windows 7 to make it feel like Mac OS X, because it has such a user unfriendly GUI.

Minimum number of apps = cleaner and fresher system.
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,018
5,396
ny somewhere
No problems with apps that work on their own, I have Office 2011, Evernote, Dropbox, Steam, Pixelmator, and a handful of games. I just don't like system UI tweaking tools such as TotalFinder, TotalSpaces. Great ideas but UI graphics doesn't match 100%.

Launchpad is made by Apple, if there is a bug with it Apple should fix it. The thing that I hate most is when Apple should fix it, someone refers me to install something that wasn't made by Apple. Why? I like to keep the system to minimum, part of reason why I bought Mac was I got fed up of having to install so many things on Windows 7 to make it feel like Mac OS X, because it has such a user unfriendly GUI.

Minimum number of apps = cleaner and fresher system.

sure, apple should fix it. until they do, i am enjoying a fix from a third-party developer, while you suffer. ;)

what exactly is a 'cleaner and fresher system"?
my OS works great, AND i have a bunch of tweaks running.
it's ALL code at the end of the day, and NONE of it is perfect (with or without tweaks, customizations, etc)
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,581
2,833
sure, apple should fix it. until they do, i am enjoying a fix from a third-party developer, while you suffer. ;)

How does the app you suggest even 'fix' the problem of random icon reshuffling?! :confused:

This is such a trivial yet annoying bug that should be so easily fixable that it is quite embarrassing for Apple to not have gotten to it yet.

Apple seem to have a 'thing' with UI objects moving around by themselves. The weather widget can't keep its position either.


Why don't you tell Apple about it?

Yes, please do! The more the better.
 
Last edited:

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,018
5,396
ny somewhere
How does the app you suggest even 'fix' the problem of random icon reshuffling?! :confused:

This is such a trivial yet annoying bug that should be so easily fixable that it is quite embarrassing for Apple to not have gotten to it yet.

Apple seem to have a 'thing' with UI objects moving around by themselves. The weather widget can't keep its position either.




Yes, please do! The more the better.


i have one page of my most-used apps, in the order i want them. everything else lives in the app folder; this makes sense to me. if anything ever gets out of order, i can reload the 'saved set' i made for the app, and order is restored.
works great...
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,581
2,833
i have one page of my most-used apps, in the order i want them. everything else lives in the app folder; this makes sense to me. if anything ever gets out of order, i can reload the 'saved set' i made for the app, and order is restored.
works great...

OK. Sounds like a lot of additional work that shouldn't be necessary, especially considering how I want Launchpad to always reflect the content of my application folder (and this is how Apple designed it to work).

Let's hope Apple comes out with a fix soon. :)
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,018
5,396
ny somewhere
OK. Sounds like a lot of additional work that shouldn't be necessary, especially considering how I want Launchpad to always reflect the content of my application folder (and this is how Apple designed it to work).

Let's hope Apple comes out with a fix soon. :)

seriously, you can always download launchpad control, and TRY IT. i don't HAVE TO do any additional work, but... i don't WANT to use it as apple designed it.
and, since i own my mac, i don't HAVE TO.

all i'm saying is...there are options, if you choose to explore them.
you're unhappy, i'm not. and you have an option that could fix that...
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,581
2,833
seriously, you can always download launchpad control, and TRY IT. i don't HAVE TO do any additional work, but... i don't WANT to use it as apple designed it.
and, since i own my mac, i don't HAVE TO.

all i'm saying is...there are options, if you choose to explore them.
you're unhappy, i'm not. and you have an option that could fix that...

I don't consider the option you presented to be something that actually fixes the problem presented here. It wouldn't make me any happier to try the program. But thanks again for suggesting it! :)
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,018
5,396
ny somewhere
I don't consider the option you presented to be something that actually fixes the problem presented here. It wouldn't make me any happier to try the program. But thanks again for suggesting it! :)

my icons are always in the order i set them in launchpad.
what do you have to lose by trying this? you can always uninstall it...
 

Frozzie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 23, 2011
172
0
sure, apple should fix it. until they do, i am enjoying a fix from a third-party developer, while you suffer. ;)

what exactly is a 'cleaner and fresher system"?
my OS works great, AND i have a bunch of tweaks running.
it's ALL code at the end of the day, and NONE of it is perfect (with or without tweaks, customizations, etc)

It isn't bad enough to make me 'suffer' - i am just flagging it up because I believe the correct thing for Apple to do is to fix it. I am sure 100s of people have asked for it to be fixed.

Once you install these 3rd party tweaks, then you realise you don't need it, you have to uninstall it. Inevitably, you are not going to uninstall completely - some traces of files will be left over even if you follow manual finder searches of plist etc etc.

Most importantly - all these apps give you a warning that you are using at your own risk in that if anything goes wrong, they are not responsible. So in a sense they don't give you 100% guarantee. That's one reason why I stay away from them - just in case something happens one day.
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,581
2,833
my icons are always in the order i set them in launchpad.
what do you have to lose by trying this? you can always uninstall it...

Are you the developer of the program or something? I've looked at the screenshot. As far as I can see (and as you describe), the proposed 'fix' is to do a backup of the Launchpad database, then later restore, whenever the bug occurs that the icons in Launchpad rearrange themselves? That is too much of a hassle for my taste. I might as well manually put the icons back where they belong (there's usually only a few icons that get moved). Until Apple fixes the bug, it's a chore either way. And there's an additional chance of something getting messed up when you introduce a 3rd party app messing with a database that is not supposed to be accessed by other programs and that Apple doesn't provide documentation for.

notafix.png
 

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,581
2,833
1) Cmd-space
2) type the first 3-5 letters of the app you're looking for
3) return

Sometimes

1) Pinch
2) click where you remember the app icon to be

is actually faster/nicer (or would be, if the icons never moved), especially if your hands aren't on the keyboard already, or you have the icon's look or its position in Launchpad in mind instead of its name. It's kind of nice to have a quickly accessible launcher that is based on spatial orientation.
 

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,018
5,396
ny somewhere
Sometimes

1) Pinch
2) click where you remember the app icon to be

is actually faster/nicer (or would be, if the icons never moved), especially if your hands aren't on the keyboard already, or you have the icon's look or its position in Launchpad in mind instead of its name. It's kind of nice to have a quickly accessible launcher that is based on spatial orientation.

you could try launchpad-control; my apps are always in the same place...:D

(okay, will let it go...)
 

Krazy Bill

macrumors 68030
Dec 21, 2011
2,985
3
I don't like installing 3rd party apps, at any cost (Even if they are paying me to).
Then I guess you're screwed.

Refusing to install a 3rd party app out of spite just so you can whine about it here will get you nowhere.

Seriously, if that silly-assed, useless Launchpad app was the only problem I could find with Lion I'd call the OS a major success and send a kudos-gram to Tim Cook.
 
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